Taking the edges off saber-rattling
On the radio recently I heard a commentator complaining that the United States and North Korea were 鈥渟aber-rattling.鈥� Suddenly that term struck me as odd. I had an image of politicians in suits standing around, holding up swords and shaking them. I decided to investigate and found it everywhere in the news. A GOP senator is 鈥淸n]ervous about saber rattling on Venezuela鈥�; Kim Jong Un is 鈥渞atcheting up his saber-rattling鈥�; there is 鈥渟aber-rattling in the Middle East.鈥� Much diplomacy these days seems to consist of 鈥渟aber-rattling.鈥� Why is this old-fashioned-sounding term still part of the political lexicon?
Merriam-Webster defines saber-rattling as 鈥渙vertly and often exaggeratedly threatening actions or statements ... that are meant to intimidate an enemy by suggesting possible use of force.鈥� Though it appears as early as 1885, its usage took off around 1920, well after sabers had outlived their usefulness. Sabers are cavalry swords with a slightly curved blade and a sharp edge for slashing from horseback. They were first employed by the hussars, crack cavalry troops from Hungary, in the early 16th century. These were cutting-edge weapons at the time and were quickly adopted by troops across Europe. Union and Confederate cavalries carried sabers during the Civil War, and they were thought to be dashing and glamorous as well as terrifying to the foe when 鈥渃ut[ting] great gashes in the atmosphere,鈥� as one Union saber enthusiast described. By the late 19th century, however, guns had rendered them more or less obsolete. They are still part of many U.S. military uniforms but are for purely ceremonial occasions.聽
Saber-rattling has connotations of posturing and blustering, like a parent telling a child, 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 stop, I鈥檒l ... I鈥檒l ... do something.鈥� The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms asserts that the term comes from soldiers threatening to draw their blades: 鈥淭he scary rattling sound of sabres being drawn was often more than enough to quell a disturbance or riot, without the soldiers having to use them.鈥�
The term probably acquired its empty threat implication because sabers so obviously belong to the past. Even 150 years ago they were considered showy tools of intimidation. This is not to say that saber-rattling can鈥檛 have real and terrible consequences. It is all too easy for bluster to turn into battle.
Occasionally a rival branch of the military will use a related phrase. For example, when opposing sides are trading threats that involve naval power, it鈥檚 properly known as cutlass-rattling, but that phrase has never caught on. Now saber-rattling is used for all kinds of threatening language or behavior in a real war, a trade war, or just a fight in a faculty meeting over who gets to teach which classes.
